Rebirth in Famine: She Thrives by Lucky Space

Chapter 6 - 6 Admit defeat

But Kong Mengjie didn’t think this way; she had never been spoken to like that before. Just a jinx, how dare she talk like that?

If it weren’t for Dad saying that the county magistrate personally approved this job, she wouldn’t have bothered and would have just grabbed it directly. What could she do?

Jiang Xinyu’s behavior made Wang Ailing very satisfied; this silly girl finally reacted. It’s rare.

Wang Ailing had cut down all the trees in Shulin that had branches they could climb up to cut. On the ground, Jiang Xinyu had already organized over ten bundles of branches. She thought of splitting them with Wang Ailing later, half for each of them.

”Sis, come down and have a sip of water. We already have a lot of branches, any more and we’ll have to go back in the dark.”

Wang Ailing nimbly slid down the tree, ”No worries, my brother will be here soon; he can carry two bundles by himself.” She unscrewed the water bottle cap and drank generously. Watching her actions was like the boldness of a drinking contest. She always admired girls who made that move, but the past life didn’t give her that opportunity.

Jiang Xinyu started gathering leaves again; these were essential, otherwise, she couldn’t start a fire.

The leading lady and the other two also picked up a lot of dead branches, but definitely not as many as Jiang Xinyu and their group.

”Wang Ailing, lend us your machete.” Zhou Lihong spoke to Wang Ailing in a condescending tone, implying that using her machete was a token of esteem.

”Haha, I’m really sorry, but I haven’t finished my work yet, so I can’t lend it to you.”

In rural areas, there’s a strong sense of community. Although it’s not communist, it’s normal for families to exchange tools. If your stuff just sits there and someone wants to borrow it, refusing is offensive. But if you’re using it, you don’t have to lend it out.

”Haha, Wang Ailing, are you still going to chop? Aren’t there no branches left for you?” Zhou Lihong was displeased with Wang Ailing. Her own dad was now a team leader, not the rascal he used to be. Everyone showed her some respect, but Wang Ailing acted like she was above her. Her dad was just a village chief, not someone who went to school for long. Why put on airs?

”Yeah, if there are no branches, I can chop down trees. There are a few dead ones over there I can take down.” You can’t cut live trees, but no one cares about dead ones.

Kong Mengjie pulled Zhou Lihong away. This really was a brainless fool.

”We have enough here, we can’t carry anymore back.” She wanted to keep the peace, but someone had to cooperate. That pig teammate, Zhou Lihong, exploded when she heard Wang Ailing’s words.

”If you cut down trees, I’ll report you.” She said this proudly, looking at Wang Ailing.

”Haha, sure, go ahead. I’ll just mention that I saw someone cut two big green trees a couple of days ago.”

Zhou Lihong fell silent. Those trees were cut by her family.

Jiang Xinyu really didn’t like this scene. Do people have to fight when they’re together? ”Sis, let’s go chop the dead trees.”

Kong Mengjie glared at Zhou Lihong. She knew it was impossible to get close to Jiang Xinyu today, so she decided to wait for another chance to visit her home instead.

”Lihong, Chunxiang, we have enough firewood too, let’s go back.”

Seeing the three of them leave, the two heaved a sigh of relief simultaneously.

”Sis, let’s split the branches between our families.”

Wang Ailing glanced at Jiang Xinyu, who was looking at her determinedly, and nodded.

”Alright, half for each family. My brother will come to cut the trees soon, you can have all of those. They’re best for heating and last long.”

”There are three of them, right? One is enough for me.”

”Take them all, otherwise, you can’t handle it yourself. My brother already took a few dead trees back.”

The two sat aside to rest for a while. Jiang Xinyu picked up the machete and went inside to see a tree bigger than her waist. She placed the machete on the ground, spat into her hands, rubbed them together, picked up the machete, and swung it at the tree.

Her palm went numb from the shock. The trunk only had a shallow mark.

Wang Ailing laughed unabashedly from the side. ”Why don’t you let it go? You stay here and guard this place; I’ll take a bundle of branches back to find my brother.”

Jiang Xinyu humbly nodded. This was truly beyond her capacity; time to let it go.

After sending off Wang Ailing, Jiang Xinyu hurriedly gathered leaves and piled them up. During the day, she didn’t dare use her space openly. She planned to sneak some into her space when they packed baskets later.

About an hour later, she heard Wang Ailing’s voice along with a commotion of footsteps.

”Xinyu, Xinyu.”

Jiang Xinyu came out from inside. ”Sis, I’m here.”

Good heavens, four young guys arrived, and two of them held axes.

”Bro, the dead trees are in Shulin. You guys go chop them down, and later you help Xinyu drag them back.”

Wang Xiaolong nodded earnestly. ”Alright, we’ll finish up soon.”

Jiang Xinyu knew Wang Xiaolong, but she didn’t know the other three young guys.

”Xinyu, these are my cousins. Their family lives on the west end of the village; don’t you know them?” Wang Ailing, seeing Jiang Xinyu’s confused look, realized the girl didn’t know them.

Quite a character, living in the same village and being about the same age, yet not knowing anyone.

”Sis, I rarely go to the village’s west end.” An explanation was still good.

The four young guys paid no attention to the two girls and entered Shulin with their tools.

”Sis, did you call all the house’s strong laborers?”

”They were hanging out together, and I called them over. Don’t worry, living in the same village, such small favors needn’t trouble you.”

”Yeah, I’m grateful to them. Sis, we can’t help much over there, so why don’t we start carrying branches back?”

”You’ve really grown up now; let’s go together.”

The branches were all wet; even a small bundle was quite heavy. Jiang Xinyu watched Wang Ailing easily carry them; she tried and wobbled before standing up.

”Xinyu, can you do it?”

”Sis, no problem, don’t worry. You walk ahead.” Jiang Xinyu gritted her teeth in perseverance. She comforted herself that today was just for appearances; once alone, she could use her space to secretly transport things back.

Once in the village, they parted ways to their homes. Jiang Xinyu set down the branches, feeling dizzy; she certainly didn’t have the energy to make a second trip, it was really unbearable.

After washing her hands, she returned to her room, summoned a meat bun, and devoured it, yet it didn’t quite hit the spot. Grudgingly, she ate another and finally felt full.